What's the point of the old threads?

[Oldcarfan27]

I was browsing the other end of the "Built Model Trucks" thread (dated 2006-2011) and was frustrated by all the posts that have lost their attached files.

My question is to the moderators. Why not delete all the wasted posts with no pics? And no, I don't mean the ones that never had pics or links.

What's the point of saving reader comments with no visual reference?

We can't see any of the subject's contents anymore, so I don't see the value in old dead threads.

Am I the only reader who thinks this way?

Edited May 15, 2021 by Oldcarfan27

[Pete J.]

Can you imagine the work it would take to go through all the old posts(thousands) and review each one to see if the photos still worked and delete the ones that didn't.  I would bet it would be hundreds of hours of work.  The moderators don't get paid enough to do that much work!!

[peteski]

That is the problem with externally hosted photos.  Thankfully, after the Photobucket debacle moderators welcomed uploading all the photos to the forum site. That will assure that the photos do not disappear from any threads.  Some members with missing photos in their threads also wanted to edit the old posts to either upload photos to replace the missing photos, or update links to the externally hosted photos, but since posts are now locked after couple of days, that was not really a workable solutions.

But at least if members who create new threads upload their photos here, they will last as long as the forum does.

[Plowboy]

I'm with you Patrick. Although, I hardly ever look at old threads. I wonder if it would be possible to set the forum up so that it only holds so many pages per section. Kinda like how a page holds so many threads before it gets bumped to the next page. Instead of the oldest thread going to another page, it just gets automatically deleted. That or go back to 2011 and delete everything older. If nothing has happened in ten years, chances are it isn't going to.

[Paul Payne]

I regularly go through old threads and have found many great models I have brought forward to be enjoyed again. I have said it before- this forum is our history. Regarding "nothing happening"- we have many members who have worked on projects for years, and occasionally have a chance for sharing updates- besides, if I revive someone else's thread something has happened!

[Ace-Garageguy]

And burn all those old books in the library too.

Old information has absolutely no value whatsoever...especially to a couple of generations who are certain they already know everything anyway.

[NOBLNG]

How about just ignoring them if they bother you? I agree it is frustrating when researching a topic or technique to find photos missing.  Would deleting any posts past a certain age be limited to ones with pics missing, and what if the text is still very helpful? As long as server space isn’t a concern I wouldn’t fret about it.

[David G.]

4 hours ago, peteski said:

That is the problem with externally hosted photos.  Thankfully, after the Photobucket debacle moderators welcomed uploading all the photos to the forum site. That will assure that the photos do not disappear from any threads.  Some members with missing photos in their threads also wanted to edit the old posts to either upload photos to replace the missing photos, or update links to the externally hosted photos, but since posts are now locked after couple of days, that was not really a workable solutions.

But at least if members who create new threads upload their photos here, they will last as long as the forum does.

I'm one of the members who has gone back and updated a number of my older threads with newly edited photos. I've received some positive comments on those threads regarding the updates and no complaints... so far.

Here are a few examples:

 77 AMC Matador Finished: Photos Restored

77 AMC Matador WIP: Photos Restored

 1958 Chevy Proton (A Fictional Nuclear Powered Car) *Photos Restored*

1958 Chevy Proton- Finished! (Photos Restored)

Revell 1960 Chevy (Refreshed Photos)

Thanks,

David G.

[NOBLNG]

1 hour ago, David G. said:

I'm one of the members who has gone back and updated a number of my older threads with newly edited photos. I've received some positive comments on those threads regarding the updates and no complaints... so far.

David G.

Thank You David for taking the time and effort to do that for all of us.?

Edited May 15, 2021 by NOBLNG

[Xingu]

There is good information in a lot of old threads, even if the photo links are broken. Clearly the old threads have some valve, since folks seem to go back to view them from time to time (even if it is just to complain about them).

I for one don't want to go thru a million posts to find the ones that are missing photos and then try to determine if there is still any value to the post.

Everyone needs to stop worrying about the old threads, they are not going anywhere. At least until we reach a hard limit on space, then we MAY look into archiving threads prior to a certain date.

If you are worried about old threads, just check the date it was started before you click on it. The start date is listed right below the thread title.

This site provides a lot of information, even about the old threads, if you take the time to look for and read it.

 

 

[peteski]

2 hours ago, David G. said:

I'm one of the members who has gone back and updated a number of my older threads with newly edited photos. I've received some positive comments on those threads regarding the updates and no complaints... so far.

Thanks for doing that David.  Did you contact the moderators requesting for the thread to be temporarily unlocked for editing, then they locked it back up?

[Tom Geiger]

There is a lot of history in those old threads. There’s posts from people no longer with us. There are histories of kits that otherwise are just in the heads of knowledgeable people. When they’re gone, it’s gone! 

While this site still has a huge amount of data, there are sites and websites that have been discontinued and are lost. If and when this site goes off line all this could be lost too. 

In my stamp collecting hobby there is a podcast discussing this issue within that hobby, and asking for data standards and some kind of permanent repository for all this info before it’s gone! 

[NOBLNG]

To the OP and others (no offence meant)...what if they passed a law that any old car that could not be started and driven had to be crushed !! ???

 

[David G.]

2 hours ago, peteski said:

Thanks for doing that David.  Did you contact the moderators requesting for the thread to be temporarily unlocked for editing, then they locked it back up?

Something like that. Just PM a Moderator, they'll work it out for you.

You're welcome.

David G.

Edited May 15, 2021 by David G.

[David G.]

40 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

To the OP and others (no offence meant)...what if they passed a law that any old car that could not be started and driven had to be crushed !! ???

 

Yeah, they're working on that.  

David G.

[Oldcarfan27]

7 hours ago, Xingu said:

There is good information in a lot of old threads, even if the photo links are broken. Clearly the old threads have some valve, since folks seem to go back to view them from time to time (even if it is just to complain about them).

I for one don't want to go thru a million posts to find the ones that are missing photos and then try to determine if there is still any value to the post.

Everyone needs to stop worrying about the old threads, they are not going anywhere. At least until we reach a hard limit on space, then we MAY look into archiving threads prior to a certain date.

If you are worried about old threads, just check the date it was started before you click on it. The start date is listed right below the thread title.

This site provides a lot of information, even about the old threads, if you take the time to look for and read it.

I personally enjoy the old information, no matter what the date is. I agree there is good information in a lot of it.

My beef is in the threads where people have made comments specific to the work that the writer posted. Without a photo to refer to, I don't know what they're talking about. 

I'd like to see someone's completed Aston Martin with real shooting lasers and bullet proof glass, including the step by step build of it, but I'll never know what he did because I can't see any of it.

Great comments on someone's root beer pearl 70s street rod with working suspension and oil on the dipstick. But what does it look like? 

Would it help the moderators if we reported the threads as they came up?

BTW, Thanks to Dave and others who take the time to fix their posts so future readers can enjoy their work. Kudos to you!

[Dave Ambrose]

I don't like the missing pictures either. Losing Harry Pristovnik's build pictures hurt a lot.

We spent a lot of time in a very awkward place where we didn't have enough readership to afford a better host, and needing too many resources for an affordable hosting plan. Externally hosting the photos was the only solution we had, then Photobucket turned around and bit us in a place not normally mentioned in the New York Times.

It was little more than a crass grab for revenue. It actually backfired on them. Many people were laid off, although I believe the decision makers were allowed to slink away. 

We're now on a bigger server, and we can get the resources we need. This site needs a tremendous amount of storage. Our full backups are pushing 300GB. This is why we have the ads. I don't like them either, but it pays the bills. 

If you want to go back and fix your old threads, We'd appreciate that very much. Please contact me and I can enable that. 

[Russell C]

23 hours ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

.... What's the point of saving reader comments with no visual reference? .....

Just like a couple of others said, I went back and fixed the busted photo links for nearly all of my old threads. Took a while, though, but it would have taken way longer to replace the threads from scratch with new text if they had arbitrarily deleted.

[Oldcarfan27]

3 hours ago, Dave Ambrose said:

If you want to go back and fix your old threads, We'd appreciate that very much. Please contact me and I can enable that. 

Thank You Dave. I'm confident that between you and fellow long-time members, improving the old threads can make the forum better as a whole.

I look forward to being able to look back and read and enjoy the past.

[doorsovdoon]

I love looking through old posts. I spend a lot of time looking through past builds on here, a lot of them well over a decade ago. Sometimes the pictures aren't there anymore but I've learned a lot just from the comments. When I was building my first semi truck I probably klicked on every Kenworth Aerodyne post to see how certain parts were painted and what they were for. What I couldn't find on Google I found here!

[89AKurt]

I concur with all the comments above, so nothing new to add.  People come, and people go, some forever, if you are still bouncing around this forum after many years, then dig up your favorite topics and update as suggested, don't count on the Admin staff to do it for you.  Just because something is old, does not mean it needs to be scraped, think RESTORATION.  So far, my Flick hosted photos still show up, but that site went through a major "improvement" that pissed many people off, who left for other sites.  Be happy we can post pictures directly.